1. Technical Field
This invention relates to decorative shutter panels adapted to be placed on an exterior surface of a structure such as a residential or commercial dwelling. More particularly, the invention relates to a component shutter assembly and a method for forming the shutter assembly such that the assembly has a custom desired length as dictated by the specific structure to which the shutter assembly is to be secured.
2. Discussion
Decorative shutter assemblies are used in a wide variety of applications to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance to exterior walls of a building such as a residential or a commercial dwelling. Typically such shutter assemblies are placed on opposite sides of windows of the dwelling. Since the specific heights of windows suitable for use in residential and commercial. dwellings can vary considerably, it has been heretofore necessary for a manufacturer of such decorative shutter assemblies to carry a relatively large plurality of different length shutter assemblies or, alternatively, to manufacture a component shutter assembly which can be assembled "on-site" by an installer, or to perform a custom assembly for each specific length of shutter ordered.
All of the above-described arrangements have drawbacks. For one, a manufacturer producing one-piece molded shutters would be required to have tooling suitable to manufacture shutters having any one of a large plurality of desired lengths. Accordingly, a very large investment in mold tooling would be necessary to be able to manufacture shutters having widely varying lengths.
Providing component shutter assemblies does not require quite the large number of mold toolings as described above, but nevertheless typically requires mold tooling for forming a pair of side rails, one or more center panel sections and one or more end panel sections. Additionally, there is the cost of labor involved in assembling the shutter into a one-piece component. This assembly, in some instances, is also not performed quite as easily "on-site" by installers.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a component shutter assembly which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and can be constructed to a wide variety of specific lengths without detailed assembly procedures necessary with prior developed component shutter assemblies. More specifically, there is a need for a component shutter assembly which may be manufactured from only a very small number of molding tools, to thereby significantly reduce the cost of manufacture, and which further can be assembled even more quickly than previously developed component shutter assemblies.